This invention relates generally to a liquid pump dispenser capable of dispensing liquid from a selected one of a plurality of liquid compartments of a single compartmented container or of separate container sections.
Various household and commercial cleaning products are used for a variety of purposes in a room of the home or office requiring a number of separate containers each of which must be dispensed separately. For example, a carpet spot removal is a special product and a wall and floor cleaner is yet another product while a glass cleaner is yet another. All these products must be stored in their on own containers with their own dispensers, causing clutter and frustration. A multi-compartmented container of these different products can be utilized with a single swivel pump dispenser which selects one product at a time upon rotation of the dispenser about its axis. Such reduces the need for separate containers of various household and commercial cleaners with their own dispensers, thereby saving storage space and providing for convenient multi-product dispensing. One such apparatus is known and disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,152,431. A single pump assembly is detachably mounted on a multi-compartmented container and rotates relative thereto to select the liquid to be pumped. An inlet tube of the pump assembly connects to one of several openings of a base plate of the pump assembly, from which a dip tube extends into each compartment, upon dispenser rotation for selecting the product to be dispensed.
One major drawback of such a dispenser is that no provision is made for venting the compartments, so as to replenish each compartment with air upon removal of product during dispensing, to avoid container collapse and hydraulic lock of the pump. Besides, the pump dispenser is coupled to a base plate of the container closure by the provision of spring-biased rivet fasteners permitting the lower end of an inlet tube to be aligned with an opening in the base plate from which a dip tube extends upon dispenser rotation. To effect rotation, the pump body must be lifted against the bias of the spring and rotated. The upper end of each dip tube has annular recesses in which are seated O rings. As the pump is rotated the end of the product inlet tube rides on the top surface of the base plate and then registers with one of the openings therein by snapping into the openings under the urging of the spring. Despite the O ring seals, such an arrangement will leak each time the inlet tube hops from one opening to the next. Besides, there is a tendency to wear the end of the inlet tube and/or the area surrounding the opening with which it is aligned each time the dispenser is rotated to select one of the separately compartmented liquids. This wearing can eventually produce leakage.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a pump dispenser assembly which is capable of dispensing one of several selected liquids from a multi-compartmented container or from adjoining multi-sectioned separate containers, in a manner which improves upon the drawbacks of the prior art. According to the invention, each of the compartments from which a product is selectively dispensed is positively vented upon pump actuation such that atmospheric air replenishes the dispensed liquid from the compartment to thereby avoid container collapse and hydraulic lock of the pump. Moreover, a base wall of the dispenser assembly has a seal with liquid and vent openings which upon dispenser rotation communicate with a selected pair of liquid and vent openings in the base plate of a cap mounted to the container, from which dip tubes extend into separate container compartments. The seal may be provided on a swivel member, and indexing may be provided as acting between the swivel member and the cap for determining a selected container compartment. The indexing may be in the form of a detent on one of the parts received in a groove located in the other part.